ForUs - High-quality online discussions (Round 4)

Summary

The ForUs project aims to improve the quality of user discussions in online media by finding new ways of encouraging higher-quality user comments.

The solution

The majority of online comment sections are still based on designs two decades old. This project will vary the characteristics of online communication spaces and evaluate the effects on comment quality. The prototype will find out which variables have a direct effect on comment quality and how these can be modified to encourage better dialogue. Comments and conversations will remain online temporarily instead of indefinitely, commenters will have to meet certain criteria to participate, and the most relevant comments will appear first, not the most recent. Improving user discussion is a vital challenge for online media in order to stimulate a thoughtful public discourse on topics relevant to society.